This weekend I took a couple of kids fly fishing. When you?re 48 and your friends are 16 and 20 you?re allowed to call them ?Kids?. I?ve fished with each of them at least once before and they know how to tie on their own flies now and they have each other to feed off of each other when they start to get bored.
So after setting up I headed down stream and waded across the river at a shallow but fast moving section and then waded upstream and back towards the middle so I could cast to a jumping trout. I was in water that was at least over my waist and occasionally wetting the bottom of my vest.
It was a rough day. I couldn?t get the fish to pay attention to my fly. I cast to him probably 3 dozen times and he would jump near my fly but not take it. I could see that he was an 8 to 10 inch long fish because he jumped entirely out of the water several times.
8 times in a row I threw a wind knot, had to untie it, and then threw a good cast. Overall that turned out to almost be a blessing because my cast would spook him and untying the wind knot game him time to settle down. I did get one hit when I landed the fly just upstream from him and he took it with the smallest, slightest little gulp. I set the hook and it flew back at me empty.
By this time I?m ready to move on. As I look down I see that I could probably step over a deep crevice to get back to shore but I decide to play it safe and turn around to go back the way I came.
To get back to the shallow part I have to wade downstream. I?m walking and the river is pushing my feet the same direction that I?m walking. Just as I get up to water that?s only about thigh deep my feet go out from under me. In slow motion I can feel myself going down.
The Bear River is really cold, but I don?t notice the temperature. I?m just trying to save my rod. I?m holding my rod in my right hand and somehow I end up with my right side under water but with the rod over my head. That?s when I feel the rush of water in my waders. My first thought is that I?m wearing a safety belt and I need to get upright before the water starts to seep past that belt and into the legs of my waders.
I struggle to get up and get my feet under me again. The adrenaline is pumping and I?m a bit shaken. I noticed a bottle of ?wet fly? fluid floating down the stream and I reached for it. Big Mistake! I slipped and went in again. This time it wasn?t as bad or as deep. I even kept the top of my waders out of the water so no new water went in.
?Screw it!? I yelled. ?I can buy more wet fly fluid?
I sloshed out of the river and immediately started pulling off my vest, boots and waders expecting to pour water out of the waders. Barely a drop came out. But my shirt and the fleece and wool socks I was wearing were soaked.
Finally, the boys showed up. ?Are you OK?? they asked.
?Yeah, I think I?m fine. I?m not even cold. But in about half an hour I?m going to be very cold if I don?t change out of these wet clothes.?
We hiked out and drove home where I stood in hot shower. I was right, by the time I got home I was starting to shiver.
The moral of this story is ALWAYS WEAR A SAFETY BELT. I came out of that fall with nothing more than a few bruises. If my waders had filled up it could have been a very different story indeed.
I have an old treking pole that I think I?ll start using as a wading staff. And if I ever find myself wading up to my vest in water I think I?ll stop and analyze my position again. If I went in there and got swept into the deep water things could have been very bad indeed.
